The Game of London

A Victorian card game, featuring 55 cards showing the contemporary locations in London. Many of these buildings are no longer around and, if you know London at all, you will notice the fact that still-existing buildings are not hemmed in by modern developments and office blocks as they are now.

The game is played with 64 cards - 55 picture cards, 8 District cards and 1 Key Card. The Key Card contains the numbers of picture cards in each district. It is placed face-up in the middle of the table. The remaining 63 cards are all shuffled and dealt to the players in rotation until the pack is exhausted.

The game is commenced by the player to the left of the dealer asking any other player for a card to complete a district of which he holds at least one card in his hand. If a player asked has such a card in his hand, he is bound to surrender it, and the first player then asks for another and so on until refused, when the right of asking is transferred to the player who refused him. The latter, in like manner, then asks for a card to complete a district in his hand, and so the game proceeds until all the districts are completed. Each district, when completed, is to be laid on the table (face downwards) by the player, and the game is won by that player who, at the conclusion, holds the most districts. A player may, at any time, refer to the Key Card in the centre of the table.

The game is undated, but one of the picture cards refers to "the late Sir Gilbert Scott", the most famous Victorian architect. He died in 1878 so the game was probably new around 1880.